Sunday, May 10, 2009

Kindle Me This, Kindle Me That

I attended a birthday party of a new found friend last Friday and somewhere between picking up a friend and going to the bar, we discussed the new revolution of reading brought by KINDLE.


The Amazon Kindle is a software/hardware platform that allows you to read electronic versions of the book. This Kindle has evolved through time and just like how cellular phones evolve, the latest version has wider screen, new better features and an improved ergo factor. Kindle is light weight and could store up to thousands of pages, which means a good number of books that you can carry with you. It's the latest revolution in reading. And just like cd's to MP3s in Ipods, this is the version for those literature classics we know such as books.

Of all the media and leisure aspects in our lives, Books have remained untouched. It's not drastically transformed by technology. OF course there is the presence of e-books in palm pilots, but let's face it, the reach is very minimal. The most improvements that we see come from how the books are printed and how fast they are produced. But no one has ever thought of producing a complete electronic device that could solely attempt to wipe out the physical concept of books forever, until Kindle came into the picture.

I am always for technological improvement, yet reading the book in it's original form would be a great leap to reading it through a small "screen." The experience of reading would change 360 degrees, and I don't think I would enjoy books half as much as reading it on Kindle. Smell, Pages and authenticity would be lost. I've even tried reading ebooks from my laptop from time to time in one of those free library sites where they have extensive book collections, but yet I still find something missing. Up to this date, I still enjoy going to bookstores (another book experience) and still buy copies to get a much better reading experience.

Bottom line, I don't mind if I don't get Kindle any time soon, it's an item of curiosity and not of need. And the mere fact that I have tons of books in my library still unread, I guess I'm happy with what I have now (or what I don't have). I wouldn't be surprised though in a couple of decade's time everyone, including students, would be required to have Kindle to eliminate the dependency on those heavy text books. Book signing would have to be done by encrypting electronic signatures in your kindle and storing it in a personal folder. There are tons of possibilities that I acknowledge, but that's enough for now.


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.earnedrelevance.com/wp-admin/images/Kindle.png&imgrefurl=http://earnedrelevance.com/2009/03/the-kindle-will-be-part-of-your-business-strategy/&usg=__FNvXcV_0tKvwl5vWOBVlkrnr4lE=&h=740&w=540&sz=291&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=pgZlHGY8bL_ImM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=103&prev=/images%3Fq%3DKindle%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

1 comment:

Self & Co. said...

I'd heard the buzz about Kindle but didn't know what it was... so thanks.
But, I would have to second that there's nothing like a leisurely stroll through a bookstore.
Now, if we could just get people to read more.